Opinions and views from expert CFOZone members.

Although the SAVE (Small Businesses Add Value for Employees) Act introduced by Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) last year appears dead, one of the ideas contained within the bill has attracted attention. The legislation would have provided several incentives to encourage small employers to offer their workers retirement savings programs.

Nearly three-quarters - 72 percent - of businesses with fewer than 100 employees don't offer a retirement savings plan, a 2010 study by the SBA, "Small Business Retirement Plan Availability and Worker Participation," found. The study noted that the costs and regulatory requirements likely dissuaded many small employers from establishing retirement plans.

Timothy Ryan, president and CEO of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), explained in a piece Wednesday on The Huffington Post some of the challenges that face regulators in the long and complicated process of implementing regulatory reform.

That process is fraught with potential pitfalls and challenges. The question is how those that are responsible for implementation will roll it out and what it will mean for all the companies and industries that will be affected.

One more sign that the economy is stabilizing: nearly one-third of asset-based lenders, which includes banks and other commercial lenders, reported an increase in new credit commitments during the first quarter of 2010. That's according to the Quarterly Asset-Based Lending Index compiled by the Commercial Finance Association (CFA). What's more, respondents also reported a slight decrease in write-offs and non-accruing loans, along with a small jump in credit line utilization, says Andrej Suskavcevic, chief executive officer with the CFA. "We're seeing across the board greater volume and better quality deals," Suskavcevic says. As their name suggests, asset-based loans are loans that are backed by the borrower's assets, such as accounts receivable, inventory or equipment.

That's not to say that asset-based loan market is immune to forces in the larger economy. At the end of 2009, asset-based loans outstanding totaled $480 billion, a drop of almost 20 percent from 2008's high of $590 billion, and the lowest level since 2005, also according to the CFA.

A panel sponsored by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association on Monday on what banks can expect from financial reform warned that higher capital reserves and other limits Congress imposes on their profitability would hurt the economy as they curbed their ability to lend.

Several panelists, including Adam Gilbert, head of regulatory policy in the corporate risk management group of JP Morgan Chase, and Gary Mandelblatt, chief risk officer of Nomura, warned repeatedly of such "unintended consequences" from financial reform.

The challenges of managing systemic risk became starkly apparent during a panel discussion held this morning by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.

In fact, the panelists agreed that the challenges are so immense that it's difficult to see how financial reform can succeed without limits on the size as well as the interconnectedness of financial firms, though some were more reluctant to impose such limits than others.

The latest wrinkle in the IRS crackdown on offshore tax evasion comes in a wave of industry opposition to a proposal that the agency routinely be given names and account numbers of U.S. customers who stash money in foreign banks.

The alternative to divulging such information? A 30 percent withholding on payments made by U.S. residents who have accounts in foreign banks.

The latest wrinkle in the IRS crackdown on offshore tax evasion comes in a wave of industry opposition to a proposal that the agency routinely be given names and account numbers of U.S. customers who stash money in foreign banks.

The alternative to divulging such information? A 30 percent withholding on payments made by U.S. residents who have accounts in foreign banks.